Many trucks and trailers with platform bodies have removable side and/or tailgates to retain a load when the truck or trailer is moving and to facilitate loading and unloading the truck or trailer. The side or tailgates, called racks, are often comprised of wooden or steel horizontal slats connected by steel vertical stakes which extend below the slats and are inserted in a stake pocket to hold the tailgate or side rack in position. To remove the tailgate or side rack, the entire rack, including the stakes, is lifted upward, removing the stakes from the stake pockets.
Mechanisms to secure the stake in the stake pocket, to prevent bumps and vibrations from bouncing the stake out of the pocket when the truck is moving, are, in general, known. For, example, U.S. Pat. No. 1,535,128 issued to Milner Mar. 22, 1924, discloses a stake having a spring latch which secures the stake in the stake pocket. The spring latch exerts sufficient force on the stake to prevent the stake from being bounced out of the stake pocket, but the stake may be removed by forcibly jerking the stake upward and out of the stake pocket. The amount of force required to remove the stake must necessarily be enough to overcome the force with which the spring latch is retaining the stake in the stake pocket. The large force and the jerking action necessary to remove the stake makes this type of device difficult and unwieldy to use.
Other prior art devices employ a spring latch cooperating with a disengaging mechanism, which must be manually maintained in a disengaging position, to remove the stake. One such device, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 1,392,206 issued Sept. 27, 1921 to Olson, requires that a person actively hold a locking dog in a disengaging position while removing the stake from the stake pocket. The relatively small locking dog is located at the lower end of the spring latch, and must be manipulated by a person's fingers. In order to remove the stake one must simultaneously manipulate the dog while pulling upward on the rack. This necessitates that a person exert an upward force, sufficient to lift the rack, which typically weighs forty or more pounds, while bending over or kneeling.
Still other prior art devices disclose a spring latch cooperating with a mechanism which selectively locks the latch in a disengaged position. Examples of such latch devices may be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,845,092 issued to Meininghaus, on Feb. 16, 1932; 1,543,532 issued June 23, 1925 to Timidaiski; and 1,534,101 issued Apr. 21, 1925 to Fisher. To operate such devices the user typically must manipulate a lock, generally located near the bottom of the stake pocket, with their fingers. Therefore, the user must either bend over or kneel down to lock the latch in a disengaged position. This is both uncomfortable and unnecessarily time consuming.
Accordingly, a device to latch and release a stake in a stake pocket which may be easily operated from a standing position on the deck of the platform is needed. The device would preferably be one that allows the stake to be removed in an ergonomic manner, i.e. in such a way that the user can remove the stake quickly, easily, and while standing in a natural position on the deck of the platform thereby decreasing the likelihood of strain or injury to the back of the user.